Justin Taylor wasn’t the only kid who got bad news from Alabama yesterday. Darius Philon, who verbally committed to the Tide last September and wore a UA hat to his Signing Day ceremony, was told at the last minute that the only way he could count on going to Tuscaloosa would be as a grayshirt.

That’s tough, but at least Philon still had other options (he later signed with Arkansas). But there’s a truly sorry part to this story and that involves Philon’s high school coach. Read this(h/t Jaybird) and shake your head:

… His coach, Kerry Stevenson, who should have been outraged over one of his players being jerked around like that, instead said he wasn’t sure when the offer was pulled and blamed the SEC’s new rule for putting UA in “a bind.”

Now that’s supporting your player.

You wonder how coaches like Saban are able to continue to sell their programs to recruits despite the negative publicity which accompanies aggressive roster management? A high school coach offended by Saban’s inconvenience – there’s one answer for you.

I guess Saban had Luca Brasi tell Coach Stevenson it might affect his season ticket privileges if he criticized the program. What a spineless, mealy mouthed, limp dicked, no character, weaselly, fork tongued, two faced thing to do.

For the Record…Auburn offering 4 year Scholarships was a Cash Flow move…it wasn’t to differentiate the Chiz from Saban. More risk for Auburn = Smaller Signing Bonuses. The money saved will be spent on new trees and more towels for Trooper Taylor–apparently, he swung all the corners off of last year’s batch.

Sad thing is so long as he keeps winning Saban will have no shortage of elite players begging him to be one of the 27 or so guys he signs every year no matter how notorious his roster management practices.

You’d think the high school coach would be more concerned with the opinions parents of the other kids under his care than a college’s. Because if my kid was there I’d have some severe reservations about this coach right now.

“We all assume certain risks in whatever we do,” the Harry Whittington of high school football coaches said. “Whatever activities we pursue and regardless of how experienced, careful and dedicated we are, accidents do and will happen…. I am deeply sorry for all that Vice President Saban and his Alabama family have had to go through this week.”

I would love to hear from the parents/guardians on this one. I really don’t care what the coach thinks one way or the other.

Purdue did this to a kid out of Tampa last year and got banned by the coach because it just came out of nowhere the week before signing day. I wonder what sort of expectations people set with recruits – do they talk about conditionals, the impact of injuries, or things like that?

You also would think Auburn would jump into this, especially with the multi-year deal thing they were trying to publicize. Perfect PR opportunity for them if they felt the kid could contribute.

“I’m pretty sure he’s wondering, ‘Why me?'” Stevenson said of Philon, who was No. 119 on the Press-Register’s Super Southeast 120. “On a number of occasions, (Alabama) stated how much they don’t want to lose him.”

So saban tells this kid:

Yeah we ARE fucking you! We are fucking the SHIT out of you! But ya know, I love you.

I think Trey Parker created a character that evil. He was so evil he made Satan his bitch.

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It's definitely different not knowing exactly who it's gonna be, but in a way, I feel like that's good,” he said. “One of my old coaches from Valdosta told me that competition is one of the best coaches. And I feel like, as well as each one of those three guys is performing, they're not gonna do anything but make each other better.” -- Jay Rome, The Red & Black, 3/25/15